No Heroes

Ready or Not

6 months later: Selina

If the punching bag was the ground, then she was the rain, drumming her fists and knees and feet into it with all of the force she could exert. Over the past months, Alfred had taught her how to take her anger out on inanimate objects and she had to admit, she found it quite helpful.

Alfred was in his room, on the laptop, searching for Bruce as per usual. If Alfred couldn't find Bruce, then (hopefully) no one could. But that wouldn't stop him from trying.

It was midnight. Night time was the only time Selina and Alfred really spent apart. In the morning, they would plan. Then they would spend the entire afternoon training or sparing, and after, they would eat and go their separate ways until the sun rose.

Selina needed to shower and get to bed.
She started to walking to the bathroom, but then found herself wandering up the stairs to the rooftop. Selina leaped onto the the side and used her fully recovered balance to walk along it. She closed her eyes, and remembered one night that took place around a year ago:

Her and Tabs had gone to the opening of the Iceberg Lounge. Bruce caught her eye and she went to the rooftop to clear her head. She had been walking along the edge and of course, being Bruce, he followed her to apologize for what had happened at the hospital. She refused to talk to him unless he got up on the ledge next to her. He immediately obliged and fearlessly stepped up. His sheer curiosity and determination to find out the truth was one of the many things she loved about him. It had taken all of her power to restrain herself from walking up and kissing him in that moment.

She shook her head to clear her mind. That was then and this is now. She opened her eyes and tried to brush off the thoughts. That's what she had done for the past few months. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as it usually did. Selina found herself thinking about the things that she had been trying to suppress for the past six months...

She thought Bruce felt the same. After all, he had kissed her before Jeremiah shot her. He knew what she had been through, what she had lost, and he promised. He promised that he wouldn't leave. She thought that she could trust him, that she didn't have to hide from him, but then he left when she needed him the most. He broke his promise.

Just like her mom.

Suddenly, the door leading to the stairs below squeaked open. Selina felt her body tense up and she whirled around, ready for a fight.

It was Alfred. She relaxed her muscles and exhaled.

"Hey, you alright?"

"I'm fine." she replied. She sat down on the edge, looking out to the beyond. If she squinted, she could see the beginning of Gotham right before it blended into the midnight sky.

She didn't even notice Alfred walking over to sit down until he was next to her.

"Anything new with Bruce?" Selina asked.

"He should be on the north-west quarter of Gotham."

"Jeez. That's as specific as you can get?"

He nodded and looked back at Selina.

"It's okay to not be, you know," Alfred said.